Detroit-area man linked to UN deaths is deported to Lebanon

DETROIT (AP) - The U.S. government has deported a Lebanese man living in the Detroit area who is suspected in the deaths of two United Nations peacekeepers in 1980.

The government says Mahmoud Bazzi was sent to Lebanon on Thursday, more than 20 years after arriving in the U.S. He admitted last summer entering the country without proper documents.

Homeland Security agent Marlon Miller says the U.S. is not a "safe haven" for people trying to escape their past.

The Irish government suspects Bazzi in the deaths of two soldiers assigned to U.N. peacekeeping duties in Lebanon. Bazzi isn't charged with killing Derek Smallhorne and Thomas Barrett and insists he wasn't involved.

An official from the Irish Embassy in Washington attended an immigration hearing for the 71-year-old last summer.